Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Best Worst Idea: Design Anberlin's Tattoo Contest

It's been a banner week for dumb shit.

Just when I got done reeling from the auto-tune awesomeness of Vampires Everywhere!'s "Immortal Love," another fantastic impossible-to-ignore piece of cross-marketing synergy via Live Nation came through my inbox like a brown baby boy.

The concept is simple: Anberlin members Joey and Christian have agreed to be tattooed with a design created by two of their fans. Seriously.

To add even more to the branding clusterfuck, someone named Ruthless from the TLC show LA Ink will administer the tattoo. Though suggested themes include orthodox iconography, Gaelic art and "luck of the Irish," the submissions thus far have been varied at best (see below). They're actively seeking contestants through October 22, so you can get in on the action—as long as you're confident you can take on some of these masterpieces.

Then there's a public vote that presumably sways the final selections, and a quick perusal of the official rules states that there's no cash prize—just the honor of having your artistic vision emblazoned on the daring two. In other words, THEY HAVE TO GO THROUGH WITH IT.

Stop making this bloggy-style thing so easy for me. I might actually start doing it regularly.